Portfolio Update for July 2025

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month.

For the month of August, it was a month of joy ride.  Although the US markets faced slight volatility due to Trump's threat to fire Jerome Powell time and time again, but markets probably got tired of it and resumed its uptrend, with S&P 500 continuing to hit new all time highs.  However, the mega-news this month should come locally from Singapore.  On 21st July, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allocated the first SGD 1.1 billion to three asset managers (Avanda, JP Morgan and Fullerton) under its SGD 5 billion Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP) aimed at reviving SGX by driving institutional investment in small and mid-cap stocks.  This news gradually brought about a broad-based rally in the Singapore markets.  This is evident in the last 2 weeks of July, where many stocks not included in the Straits Times Index (STI) gaining steam and started their rally.  As it is a broad-based rally, the STI constituent stocks were not ignored in this rally too.  Since STI hit a recent low back in April due to "Liberation Day", the local market has propelled by approximately a staggering 25% in just 3 months.  Moving forward how will the markets move, I just got to remain cautiously optimistic.  I do not know whether a correction of any form is pending, but I will just hold on to my portfolio, conserve some cash and collect dividends in the upcoming earnings season.

US market is positive for me.  However as I have reduced my US Growth Portfolio to just about 8% of my total allocation, it is no longer my main concern.  However, that does not mean the US Portfolio is not important.  July also marks the beginning of the earnings reporting seasons.  Thus far, JP Morgan, Google, Microsoft has reported their earnings (with Apple reporting later in the day).  I am not too worried about this portfolio as the earnings report thus far has been great and it has propelled share prices of JP Morgan and Microsoft to all time high!  VOO ETF has also benefitted in the process.  In addition, laggards like Google and VTV ETF have started their uptrend too.  With the uptick in prices, I decided to sell a small portion of Google and VTV ETF, and divert the funds to include a new stock in my portfolio, which is Berkshire.  A few months back, I said that I am slowly consolidating my US Growth Portfolio into ETFs rather than individual stocks.  Existing individual stocks in my portfolio are basically capital free from prior growth, so I am more than happy to continue holding them and let profits run further.  So why do I still invest in Berkshire at this juncture?  This is because I personally view Berkshire functioning like an ETF, giving me exposure to value stocks in US, Japan and also cash.   In the event any correction or even market crash occurs, exposure to Berkshire may act as a hedge to my portfolio (though it is just a super small allocation for now).

Closer to home, it is all joy and excitement this month.  In fact, this exuberance is creating some fear in me.  The most spectacular run-up this month is definitely by Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE) in my portfolio.  Just in July, the share price of STE has appreciated by 13.3% to an intraday high of SGD 8.94 before retreating to SGD 8.70 to end of the month.  Even a juggernaut like Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) has rocketed by 9.1% this month alone to hit an intraday high of SGD 49.21 before retreating slightly at the end of the month to SGD 48.00.  In addition, the usually stagnant stocks like Hong Leong Finance (HLF), Kimly and ComfortDelgro (CDG) are having silent rally too!  As the rally became broad-based, I believe there may still be some room for uptrend, but how long can this last is anyone's guess.  As a result, as per what I have written in my previous post, I have decided to sell 10% of my holdings in STE primarily due to yield compression, to reposition the funds to higher yielding stocks that can help to boost my dividend income.

On the flip side, not all news are exhilarating.  The earnings season have also started for companies listed locally.  Thus far, Mapletree family of REITs, CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAST) and Aims Pact REIT (AAR) have released their results.  Mapletree family of REITs were a let down, with Mapletree Logistics Trust performing the worst, reporting another alarming 12.4% year-on-year decline in distribution per unit (DPU), while Mapletree Industrial Trust announced a 4.7% year-on-year decline in DPU and surprisingly Mapletree Pan-Asia Commercial Trust reported a 3.8% year-on-year decline in DPU.  For these 3 REITs, I have temporarily placed them in my 'freezer', waiting for recovery while collecting dividends.  CLAST on the other hand, reported a 1.0% year-on-year decline in DPU, which is considered relatively stable.  The only bright spot comes from Aims Apac REIT, reported a 0.4% increase in DPU.

I will be looking forward to the earnings release by others, especially the banks and Hong Leong Finance in upcoming months.  Hopefully the distributions to be announced will be positive, which will help to bring me one step closer to my goal of SGD 30K annual dividends in 2025.  Details of the dividends received will be announced later at the end of the September in my portfolio's quarterly updates.

For this month, I injected approximately SGD 5K capital into the portfolio, and I used the proceeds from the sale of shares to buy the following shares:

SGX:    Aims Apac REIT

             CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust

             ComfortDelgro

             Hong Leong Finance

             HRNet Group

US:       Berkshire

On the other hand, I have sold the following shares:

SGX:    Singapore Technologies Engineering

US:       Google

             VTV ETF

Total Portfolio Value has increased quite remarkably by approximately 4.8% to a new all time high of SGD 719K including capital injection.  This is despite a rather significant retreat in portfolio value in the last week of July.  Moving forward, it seems like August may be a month of roller-coaster ride as stocks are at rather high levels, coupled with earnings season, volatility may spike.  Hopefully, this uptrend can continue into August albeit at a slower pace.  With that, hopefully by the end of this year my portfolio value can creep towards SGD 725K, a new goal that I set for myself as my portfolio has hit the goal I set for myself at the beginning of 2025 (SGD 675K).  For now, I will just sit back, relax, and wait for the more upcoming earnings and dividends to be announced.